“Cargo ship K-C-V-928, you’re clear for landing.”

  “Copy that, control,” Riza responded as she brought the ship in for landing.

  “Still gotta decide on a name,” Pilo commented.

  “Yeah-yeah, I’m working on it,” Riza shrugged.

  “Welcome to the Drop Centre,”

  “Thanks, control, looking forward to Team Veyn winning the championship,” Riza grinned.

  The control operator chuckled and disconnected the comms line without saying another word. The ship slowly made its descent, and Riza did her best to get a stable, soft landing, but it still fell with a bit of a hefty thud.

  Piloting wasn’t exactly her strong suit, but she’d had enough to get the job done without wrecking the vehicle. Pilo was in a similar boat, but less confident in his landings. And now that they were at the Drop Racing Centre, she was rather excited to see how real pilots did their thing. The first thing she noticed when they entered the main facility of the public access ring was its scale– it felt like an entire city in itself, and it was only the first of three rings; she was baffled by the megalithic engineering.

  Thousands of people were roaming around, as queues extended all the way to the ship lot, as fans eagerly waited to get past the turnstiles. Fortunately, having bought a ticket for the shipping lot, their access was approved on arrival, and they could skip the massive queues in which the majority of people arrived in public transport ships provided by Inter-sol transportation. From the railings above the main floor of the public access ring, Riza could scope out a lor of the layout– In the distance, she could see the entrance to the massive mall which was said to be one of the fanciest in the galaxy, although that didn’t interest her much.

  She could also see the entertainment zone where another queue extended so far she couldn’t see where it ended beyond the crowds of people.

  “Oh!” She jumped in excitement, pointing at the entertainment zone, “That’s where they have the racing sim!”

  “Racing sim?” Pilo asked, rather uninterested.

  “The most realistic Drop Racing sim in the galaxy,” She said before turning to him somewhat perplexed, “How haven’t you head of it?”

  “I don’t know, I’m not that interested in sims,”

  “Aren’t you supposed to keep up with all the engineering innovations and stuff?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Real innovations,” He mumbled, “A racing sim is cool I guess, but has no practical application.”

  “Oh, so you like boring engineering? Got it,”

  “Whatever,” He grunted. “The garages are in the second ring.”

  “Garages,”

  “Where they work on the drop ships,” He sighed, “You forgetting why we’re here, Boss?”

  “We got access, yeah?”

  “We paid for All-access,”

  “VIP?”

  “Nah,”

  “Alright, let’s get a move on.”

  They made their way down to the main floor of the first ring using the glass elevators, and once they were amongst the crowds of people roaming around, they began to notice the security. Red uniforms among the sea of civilians stuck out like buoys in an ocean, and Riza felt her stomach sink as she remembered she was an outlaw and needed to keep a low profile. She lifted her hoodie over her head again, covering most of her blonde dreadlocks and afro.

  “Qualifying results for Race day 2,”

  A voice boomed over the intercom as a large holo-screen turned on. The majority of the crowd turned their heads in anticipation.

  “In P3 is Team Koy, piloted by Miin,”

  A small portion of the crowd cheered, but Riza was quite surprised by how loud it was. Being in the DRC puts into perspective just how large each organisation actually is.

  “In P2, is Veyn of Team Veyn.”

  Riza and half of the crowd cheered in excitement. She couldn't help herself and felt a sense of pride being among her comrades. People who truly understood what good Drop Racing looked like.

  “Oof, another bad position, huh?” She teased Pilo, who seemed rather concerned.

  “Yeah well, the drop decides who wins, remember,” He did his best to defend his Fandom.

  “Probably Team Ren in first,”

  “Kelly raced well,” Pilo shrugged, “She deserves it,”

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  “And in P1…”

  The entire arena fell silent, and listeners anxiously glared up at the glowing screen as the announcer built suspense. It put a smile on Riza's face, finally getting the full, Drop Racing experience she'd heard so much about.

  “For the first time this season,”

  Riza prepared to mock Pilo, and flex the superiority of Team Veyn.

  “Izzy of Team Montoya,”

  The entire facility erupted, and hundreds of Montoya fans began stomping their feet, sending a ripple through the ship and every individual. Riza, for the first time, felt the effect that Izzy had on the galaxy. The depth to which everyone wanted her to succeed and amongst the crowd she even saw fans of other teams applauding in competitors jerseys.

  “The Goat!” Pilo said, towering over Riza with a smile that stretched from ear to ear, “Something you wanted to say?”

  Riza chuckled, and started clapping “Congratulations,” She said with joy, “I can't believe she's first on the leaderboard without starting in the first position this entire season,”

  “Right? She's just that good,”

  “She must be,” Riza agreed, taking in the continuous shake of the arena as they began chanting her name, “They'd might has well give her the championship then,”

  “As much as I want to agree with you, the race still decides it all, Boss.”

  Just when the cheering began to die down, it erupted again as the queues of fans immediately dispersed, and excitedly ran towards the team garages in the second ring. Riza and Pilo both followed the crowd, but managed to slip past them with all access as they made it to a second, still extremely large crowd that was swarming the garages.

  “Oh shit,” Pilo exclaimed as he looked over the crowd.

  “What is it? I can't see,”

  “It's Izzy!”

  “No way, really?!”

  “Here,” Pilo said, crouching down beside Riza.

  She took a seat on his shoulder as he lifted her above the crowd like a human forklift and she had a clear view of the second ring and the Different drop ships within their respective garages. Izzy had just completed her qualification run when the results were announced and despite the overwhelming number of people being kept at bay by the railings and security, Izzy waved as she made her way toward the crowd.

  “Oh my god, it's her!” Riza got excited, and a little star struck. She'd always thought she was a certified Izzy hater but the atmosphere had her fawning over the superstar.

  Izzy then began taking photos with fans and giving them her autograph on different memorabilia or their team jerseys. One fan was even wearing a Team Veyn jersey that she happily signed after having a bit of a laugh. Just behind Izzy, she noticed a dozen or so engineers in the garage, and she remembered the plan to get the ID. In a few moments, five of the engineers left the garage, and made their way out– heading towards the VIP area.

  “Engineers,” She said, tapping Pilo on the shoulder.

  He promptly lowered her to the ground before they both moved towards the VIP area. There was so much security in the area and guarding the entrances that there was no way for them to sneak in, but as she noticed the engineers, she noticed the DRC pass around their necks and the small keycards clipped beside their pockets. Those must be the IDs. Riza wasn't a pickpocket, but considering the keycards were clearly visible she figured she might be able to get her hands on one if the chance arose.

  They posted up between the garage and the VIP section, waiting for more engineers to pass by as most security had their eyes on the ruckus around Izzy.

  “The guy with the glasses,” Pilo said as an engineer behind a security guard.

  Before Riza could ask more, Pilo was on the move, and Riza wasn't sure what the plan was but she kept in Pilo's shadow. Pilo moved quickly, sliding between the crowd to reach a collision course with the engineer and his security guard.

  “Shit!” Pilo stammered like a bad actor as he tripped over his own feet and crashed into the security guard.

  They both fell to the floor and Riza tucked herself further beneath her hood as she picked up the pace.

  “Shit, I'm so sorry,” Pilo mumbled and the security guards gathered himself.

  “Don't worry about it,” The guard responded as he got up to his feet.

  “Here,” The engineer reached a hand out to Pilo, helping him up.

  “Oh, you're a Montoya engineer? Thats awesome, you guys do great work!” He placed and arm on the engineers shoulder, cutting off his vision on the side Riza was approaching.

  Riza, amongst the pleasantries, managed to yank on the keycard rather forcefully and the card unclipped as she continued walking. The engineer felt something as he tried looking over Pilo's arm but Pilo kept his attention–

  “Yeah, uh, thanks,” The Engineer responded.

  “Give him some space,” The guard stepped between them.

  “Right, that's my bad,” Pilo took a step back.

  The sound of the crowd moved in their direction when Riza noticed she was suddenly on a collision course of her own. Three security guards stared at her when she quickly ducked out of the way of Izzy and her entourage, nearly falling to the ground.

  “Back up,” they ordered as they pushed fans out of the way, clearing a path for Izzy.

  “You okay?” Izzy asked as she walked past among the force field of bouncers, looking right at Riza.

  “Uh-huh,” She nodded, unable to speak as nerves suddenly shot through her.

  Izzy gave her a thumbs up as she walked by, and Riza watched in awe as Izzy made her way to the VIP area. Lagging behind her was an ovular drone with a honey coloured liquid swashing amongst its dark grey cone as it hovered in front of Riza, looking directly at her. Like a bouncer getting one last look before it flew up and out of sight.

  “Let's go, Boss,” Pilo arrived beside her, “Before he notices,”

  They both scurried toward the first ring, squeezing through the crowd that followed Izzy like a magnet until she vanished among the turnstiles of the VIP area.

  “Did you get it?” He asked, a little concerned.

  Riza held it up, with a smile on her face, “Quick thinking, slick,”

  “Phew, thank god,” a wave of relief washed over him, “I don't think we'd have gotten another chance,”

  “With your top tier acting, I think we would have,”

  “That fall was impressive, huh?” He chuckled.

  “Award worthy,”

  “I was a stunt man in another reality,” He shrugged, “Born for the big screen and all that,”

  Riza laughed, and put the keyboard in her pocket.

  “Too bad you're an outlaw in this one,”

  “Well, if we get our hands on an AG drive and get to Silic, maybe we won't be outlaws for much longer,”

  “Let's hope so,”

  “Back to the ship then?”

  Riza glanced at the entertainment zone, and saw that the queues were almost non-existent after Izzy's appearance.

  “Well…” She debated.

  “Nah, Boss. We have priorities,”

  “We're only going to break into the lab at night anyway,” She grunted softly, “We've got time,”

  “And if we get caught by Atlas Soldiers?”

  “They're all over there,” She pointed to ring two, “Helping the security guards,”

  Pilo looked at her, unimpressed and crossing her arms.

  “Don't be a spoil sport,” She grinned, “Just one sim, I promise, you'll love it,”

  Pilo sighed, rolling his eyes and walking towards the entertainment zone ahead of Riza.

  “Yes! This'll be great, I promise!” She said excitedly as she followed behind him.